Hold Out
by sparkofcreation
Summary: Glinda and Boq meet in the Vinkus after Elphaba's death, each wanting to say their final goodbyes to an old friend. [GlindaBoq]


**I'm updating Tried and True SOON, I promise. But now I have a new fic to waste your time with :) **

Glinda ducked her cloaked head as the carriage rocked along, partly because of the dusty Vinkus roads, partly to conceal her identity. There would certainly be trouble if the wealthy Lady Glinda was spotted in a beaten down carriage, traveling to the Vinkus alone. The realization that she was actually here, doing _this _sent her reeling. She had claimed to be visiting an old friend in Upper Gillikin and taken leave from Chuffrey - what with the festivities surrounding the Witch's death and the Wizard's departure, her absence would hardly be noticed.

She had somehow known that night, that horrible night that had stretched endlessly to accommodate her pain and regret, that Elphaba was dead. A piece of her heart had seemed to shatter, perhaps at the very moment her oldest and dearest friend had left the world, and she had let out a wail of anguish, so muffled by the silk and marble and beauty surrounding her that it became perfectly insignificant in the world she had crafted for herself.

Choking back a sob, she hoped her seat mate, a decidedly dirty old man, hadn't noticed. He hadn't – he was gorging himself on a ripe plum. Glinda turned her head, feeling nauseated. As soon as she had heard the official news of Elphaba's death, she had come. For no other reason than closure she supposed, for the castle of Kiamo Ko was empty now, a place to grieve for a scorned woman who had touched her heart in ways she could never admit.

"_It won't make your father love you any better."_

She cursed herself for not easing the tension between the two of them, separating them over something as silly as a pair of shoes. At least she would have had a proper goodbye. A tear ran down her fair cheek, still smooth and pink despite the years that had passed.

"Oh, Elphie." She whispered, looking skyward with tear filled eyes. She fiddled with the sleeve of the cheap black dress, bought from a street merchant along with a woolen cloak.

"Here's your stop." The driver announced gruffly, barely stopping the carriage long enough for Glinda to scoop up her small bag. Alone now, she trudged up the hill towards the castle of cracked stone and mud, prying open the decaying door without much effort. The Guard had been in already, making sure that the Witch was really and truly gone, and when they found the place to their satisfaction they had left the empty castle open, thinking it abandoned for good.

She tiptoed through stone pathways with only the light of a small candle to guide her, shivering with cold and the eerie feeling that she was not alone. In the highest tower, in a rounded stone room, she stopped. Elphaba's room – she just knew, the books, the scribblings, it was all unmistakably hers. There was another door, leading to the place where she supposed her remains were. Glinda shuddered, not ready to face that yet.

Alone, completely alone in this huge, treacherous land, Glinda sank to the floor, letting the memories wash heavily over her. She let herself cry now, huge ugly sobs that wracked her shoulders and left her crumpled in a heap on the icy floor.

"Who's there!" The shout sounded alarmed and she heard heavy footsteps in the hall. The door was flung open and a figure revealed. She turned her head to see a face looking down at her. A very familiar face.

"Boq!"

He watched her as she pulled the hood of her cloak down, recognizing her at once. "Glinda?"

Their eyes met for a long moment, then Boq handed her a handkerchief. She wiped her tear stained cheeks gratefully.

"I had.." She started to make an excuse and gave up. "I had to say goodbye."

Boq sat beside her, touching her arm gently as her bottom lip quivered. "Me too. I thought no one would be here, but I suppose I was wrong."

Glinda saw the tears start in his eyes and flung herself into Boq's arms. Desperately clinging to the one person in all of Oz who just might understand, she cried, feeling his sobs match her own and their chests heave in unison. They stayed like that for a long time, laying beside each other on the floor, so close it was hard to judge where one began and the other stopped, shaking with debilitating grief.

"How did you get here?" She asked softly, her hands still grabbing desperately at his shirt front. "I didn't see you on the carriage."

"I took my horse from the farm." Boq wasn't ready to let go of her yet either, but as the hysteria faded it was becoming more and more awkward to hold her like this. The candle on the floor flickered. "We need to find a place to sleep."

She drew back a little, surveying the black night sky and nodding weakly. They stood unsteadily, as if it were painful to pull apart the bodies which had been so attached seconds before. Using her candle as light, Glinda managed to find what had been a bedroom, complete with a bed made up with musty sheets that smelled of a stranger. Normally she would have been repulsed by the idea of sleeping on such filth, let alone with a man, but exhaustion ruled for the moment. She fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, and Boq tumbled beside her.

He awoke first, confused as to where he was. Sun tumbled in at an unfamiliar angle, and Boq looked around to see a tuft of blond hair poking out beneath a cocoon of blankets, remembering the events of the night before. He stood carefully and walked toward the window, surveying his surroundings in the daylight.

Obviously this room had once been grand, the bed covers were a faded silk that looked faintly distinguished, as if it had been expensive in it's day. The bed itself was appropriately huge, framed in carved mahogany, but worn quite noticeably around the edges. The whole room seemed to be covered in a permanent layer of dust. Boq looked out the window and into the branches of a peach tree, grabbing a couple of ripe peaches and setting them on the windowsill before they tumbled off the overladen bough.

Glinda stirred fitfully in her sleep, moving the blankets from her face. Boq looked down at her. She was no longer Galinda the flighty schoolgirl, he could see that, but neither was she Lady Glinda anymore either. This was someone else entirely, a frail woman whose blond curls were tangled and whose cheeks were stained with tears, wearing a tattered black frock. Sensing his gaze, Glinda awoke.

"Where am I..oh." She mumbled, staring up at him. He watched as she drew her knees up to her chest and set her small face between them.

"Here." He retrieved one of the peaches, and Glinda shook her head. "You need to eat."

Boq pulled a pen knife from his pocket and ran it through the ripe fruit, offering the slice to Glinda. She took it, grudgingly nibbling on it. Juice running down his hand, he cut fat pieces of peach until he was satisfied that she had eaten.

"How are you getting back to the Emerald City?" He broke the silence.

"The way I got here I suppose, though I don't know when the next carriage is coming."

Boq shook his head. "They don't come very often in these parts. Let me take you back, there's an old buggy in the courtyard that you could ride in behind my horse."

"Okay." She agreed. "But I want to see...her...before I go."

He knew what she meant. The other door, the door to the room where Elphaba last lived, where perhaps her remains lay. "Come on."

Halls were much easier to navigate in daylight and they found the tower room in no time at all. Her presence was still in it, notes were half finished, scribblings of indistinguishable text tacked onto the walls. Glinda grabbed blindly for his hand, biting back tears. He figured it was up to him to open the door, although he was fighting tears of his own.

The room was damp, cold, but there was remains of a fire in the hearth and an old wooden chair. He heard Glinda gasp and followed her gaze – a book rested on the floor, still open to a page, as if it's reader would soon return. In the center of the small room was a pile of black. Boq felt sick.

"Oh..oh no...no." Glinda whispered raggedly. She approached the pile cautiously, pulling from the top an old black hat.

He sank to the floor beside her, their gaze meeting over what remained of Elphaba. Glinda fumbled in her bag for a minute before pulling something out. Shoes. Glittering ruby red in the sunlight, she placed them on top of the puddle of black cloth.

"They're yours now. They should have been all along."

**Reviews please?**


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